Desk structure



y 5, 1955 E. F. HAMILTON ETAL 3,192,334

DESK STRUCTURE Filed June 12, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORE EARL E HAMILTON, BY RALPH B. LAY

DONALD L. M0025 flaw, Wax/L1 ArroRNEYs.

y 5, 1955 E. F. HAMILTON ETAL 3,192,884

DESK STRUCTURE June 12, 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I W I IHIFW if w "I: l 7W m U'WJW U W 2 "'70' 'I|Ifi 1? g 1 T fi ,7 4 Mi I. .fllll l i 111A l| p 2? 974' t 55 r f r T g I: I 4Z1 I T 40 INVENTORS. 44' 22 EARL E HAMILTON,

40 BY RALPH l5. LAY

DONALD L. M0025 flails -Lml iq 'm ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent C) 3,192,884 DESK STRUCTURE Earl F. Hamilton and Ralph E. Lay, Columbus, Ind, and

Donald L. Moore, Gallatin, Tenn, assignors to Hamilton Cosco, Inn, Columbus, Ind, a corporation of Indiana Filed June 12, 1963, Ser. No. 287,397 1 Claim. (Cl. 1633-92) This invention relates to a desk. structure, and m re particularly to a desk structure mountable on a desk, table, or the like, for forming an extension thereon.

It is an object of the invention to provide a desk structure of attractive appearance which can be mounted on a desk, table, or the like to form an extension thereon, which can be easily and economically manufactured largely from sheet-metal and metal-tubing, and which will prove sturdy and durable in use.

According to one form of the invention, there is provided a shelf surface having depending border skirt provided with a stretch parallel to said shelf surface adjacent the peripheral edges thereof. A pair of brackets are mounted at one end of said shelf surface, and each of said brackets comprises a first flange connected to said skirt stretch and interconnected by an upwardly projecting web to a second flange connected to the underside of the top on a desk, table, .or the like. A pair of ground-engaging legs are mounted on a skirt stretch at the end of the shelf surface remote from the pair of brackets. The webs on said brackets and the length of the pair of legs are such that said shelf surface is disposed in parallelism with the top :on the desk, table, or the like and thus forms a vertically offset extension thereof. I

Conveniently, a transversely extending plate is disposed between the Webs of the pair of brackets and the adjacent end of the shelf surface. Said plate is connected at its opposed ends to the top and one of the legs on the desk, table, or the like and projects upwardly from the shelf surface to thus hide the mounting connections of the shelf surface.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows and the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a desk having a desk structure embodying the invention mounting thereon;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectionrtaken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. .5 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a vertical section taken on the line 7--7 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 2, but'showing a modified form of the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a horizontal section taken on the line 99 of FIG. 8. V

The desk structure comprising this invention may be mounted on 'a desk, table, or the like, but for purposes of illustration said desk structure will be described herein as it is used in. combination with a desk such as is d scribed in our co-pending application Serial No. 234,183, filed October 30, 1962. When the invention is used in combination with a desk, it converts a conventional rectangularly shaped desk into an L-shaped desk having a pair of work surfaces whose longitudinal axes are at right angles to each other.

As shown in FIG. 1, a single pedestal desk may comprise a pedestal 10 mounted at one end of a top 12 and provided with a plurality of drawers 14. The desk is supported at its corners on a plurality of ground-engaging legs 16 connected to the underside of the top 14 by bracket-s 18 which are fastened to the legs 16 and underside of the top 14 by screws 26 and 21, respectively.

The desk structure comprising the invention is provided with a shelf surface formed from sheet-metal panel 22 preferably having a decorative cover 24 extending thereover and connected thereto by bonding and by a peripherally extending clip 26. As shown in FIG. 2, the clip 26 is in the form of an inwardly open channel bindingly received over the panel 23 and cover 24 with its lower leg having an offset 28 formed therein. Secured to the lower face of the panel 23 is a trim molding having an inwardly projecting leg 30 connected to said. panel inwardly from the peripheral edge thereof and provided with an offset 32 in which the clip offset 28 is received. The

leg 30 is continuous with a skirt 34 projecting downwardly from the clip 26 and terminatingat itslower edge in an inwardly bent leg 36 parallel to the leg 30. The border skirt'furthe'r comprises braces 38 extending along the front and rearedges of the shelf surface and interposed between'a pair of braces 40' extendingalong the lateral edges thereof. Thebraces 38 and 40have identical cross-sectional configurations. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, each of the braces 38 comprises an upper stretch 42 connected to the panel 23 inwardly of the molding leg 30 and integrally connected to a lower stretch 44 by a web 45. The stretch 44 is parallel with the panel 23 and has a stiffening channel 46 at its outer end abutting the molding leg 36 and skirt 34. Each of the braces 40 has an upper stretch 42"connected to the panel 23 inwardly from the molding leg 30 and integrally connected by a web 45' to a lower outwardly projecting stretch 44'.

The outer end of the stretch 44' has a stifiening channel 46' abutting the adjacent molding leg 36 and skirt 34.

Preferably, the shelf structure is further braced by a longitudinally extending channel having legs 48 connected to the panel 23 and interconnected by a web 50. Thus,

the clip 26, skirt 34, ,and braces 38 and 40 form a pcripherally extending border skirt which braces the shelf surface and provides a decorative trim therefor.

Conveniently, the top 12 on the desk may be constructed in the same manner as the shelf surface just described, and to this end, it may be provided with a peripherally extending border skirt 62 to which a brace stretch 64 is connected, the stretch 64 being connected by a web 66 to an upper stretch 68 secured to the top 12 inwardly from the marginal edges thereof. As shown in FIG. 4, in such construction, the screws 21 for the leg brackets 18 are received in the stretch 64 for mounting" the leg 16 on the top 12.

The desk structure is connected to the desk top. 12 by a pair of brackets 76, each of which comprises a lower 7 flange 71 underlying the brace stretch 44. The flange 71 Patented July 6, 1965 on the shelf structure. The flange 71 projects rearwardly of the shelf structure and is continuous with an upwardly projecting web '76 terminating at its upper end in a rearwardly projecting upper flange '73. T he upper flange 78 is provided with a slot 843 for the reception of screws $2 extending into the brace stretch "E4 on the top 12 for thus rigidly interconnecting the desk structure to the desk. As shown in FIG. 4, the flanges 71 and 78 are laterally offset from each other and the Web it: extends obliquely therebetween so that the brackets 70 may be mounted on the shelf structure adjacent the lateral edges thereof and mounted on the top 12 inwardly from the leg bracket 18 to provide a rigid interconnection between the desk top 12 and the shelf structure without the necessity of changing the mounting of the desk legs 16.

Conveniently, a transversely extending plate 84 is inter posed between the bracket webs 76 and the adjacent end of the shelf structure. Said plate extends above and below the panel 23 and for the full width thereof to hide the interconnection of the shelf structure and desk. As shown in FIG. 2, the plate 34 has a pair of opposed channels 8a: extending along its upper and lower edges, with the lower of said channels resting on the flange 71. A rearwardly directed flange 88 is formed on one end of the plate 84 and said plate is connected to the adjacent leg by a pair of screws 96. The opposite end of the'plate 84 is also provided with a rearwardly directed flange 92 having a finger 9d projecting laterally therefrom and connected to the shelf stretch 64 by a screw 95.

The end of the shelf structure remote from the brackets if? is supported on a leg frame comprising a pair of ground-engaging legs 95 interconnected at their upper ends by a transversely extending stretcher 93 and at points intermediate their lengths by a transversely extending stretcher 99. As shown in FIG. 7, the legs 95 are connected to the shelf structure by a pair of brackets 1%, each of which comprises a flange 101 bolted to the adjacent leg ,6, as at 102. The flange 101 is connected by a web 103 to a flange 1G4 disposed against the lower face of the brace stretch 44' along the adjacent side of the shelf structure and connected thereto by a screw/ 105. The legs are further connected to the shelf structure by one or more screws 1th; extending through the stretcher 9 and received in the brace "leg 44 along the forward edge of the shelf structure. Conveniently, a shouldered plug N8 having a threaded opening extending therethrough is mounted in each of the legs 96. Said plug carries a ground-engaging cap 169 connected to a threaded stud 116 received in the plug opening for rotating said cap relative to the leg 96 to level the shelf structure.

A modesty panel 115 extends along one side of the shelf structure and projects downwardly therefrom. 'As shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the panel 115 has a generally U-shaped offset 116 formed at one of its ends which embraces the adjacent leg 16 on the desk and is connected thereto by a plurality of screws 118. A vertically extending offset 119 also extends along the opposite end of the panel 11.5 to abut a pair of adjacent faces on one of the legs 96. Screws 12ft extendthrough the offset 119 and are received in the adjacent leg 96. The offsets H6 and 119 in the panel 115 permit said panel to lay in the same general plane as thedesk side wall 122. which is connected by the screws 118 to the desk leg 16 about which the panel offset 116 is received. Conveniently,

a stiffening lip 124 is also formed in the panel along its lower edge.

Desirably, an end panel 126 is mounted on the legs 96 at the end of the shelf structure remote from the desk. As shown in FIG. 7, the panel 126 has vertically extending flanges 128 along its lateral edges connected to the legs 96 by the screws 12%. An inwardly directed flange 136 is also formed on the lower edge of the panel 12-6 and is connected to the leg stretcher 99by a screw 132.

A modified form of the shelf structure is illustrated'in FTGS. 8 and 9 and differs from the modification just described only in the omission of the transversely extending plate 8-!- and the substitution of a pair of brackets for the brackets 71).

In the modification illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, the top of the shelf structure comprises a panel 133 having a decorative cover 134 mounted thereon by a peripherally extending clip 135. A border skirt 136 is connected to the underside of the panel 133 and extends downwardly from the peripheral edges of the shelf surface. Pairs of braces 13S and 139 having identical cross-sections are mounted on the panel 133 adjacent its peripheral edge and as shown in FIG. 8, each of the braces 138 comprises an upper stretch Mt) secured to the panel 133 and interconnected by a web 142 to a lower horizontal stretch 14'? the outer end of which engages the skirt 136.

In the modification shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the shelf structure is connected to the desk top 12 by a pair of brackets 76', each of which comprises a lower flange 7i underlying the brace stretch 144. The flange '71 has an elongated slot '72 for the reception of the screws 74' received in the stretch 144 for mounting the bracket 7% on the top surface. The flange 71' projects rear'tvardly from the top surface and is continuous with an obliquely extending web 76' interconnecting the flange 7i to a second flange 78" coplanar with the flange '71. The flange 78 extends under the desk brace stretch 64, and said flange has a slot 86' for the reception of screws 82 extending into the brace stretch 64 on the top 12 for thus rigidly interconnecting the shelf structure to the desk. As with the braces 7d, the flanges '71 and '73 are laterally otfset from each other so that said braces may be mounted on the top surface adjacent its lateral edges and on the top 12 inwardly from the desk leg 16. The flanges '71" and 78', being coplanar, thus interconnect the shelf structure and the desk top 12 in coplanarity with their adjacent edges abutting each other so that said shelf structure forms a substantially continuous extension of the desk top 12.

Since the modification shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 differs only from the modification shown in FIGS. 1-7 in its bracket mounting on the desk top, its end remote from said desk may be supported on the leg structure shown in FIG. 7 and it may be provided with the modesty and end panels and 126, as desired.

We claim:

In combination with a unit of metal furniture having a top supported on a plurality of ground-engaging legs, a desk structure, comprising (a) a shelf structure having a depending border skirt provided with an inwardly extending stretch,

(b) a pair of laterally spaced brackets at one end of said shelf structure each having a first flange parallel to said shelf structure connected to said inwardly extending stretch and interconnect-ed by an upwardly projecting web to a second flange generally parallel with said first flange and connected to the underside of the top on said unit of metal furniture for mounting said shelf structure thereon in parallelism therewith,

(c) said first and second flanges on each bracket being laterally offset from each other and the bracket webs extending obliquely therebetween for mounting said first flanges adjacent a pair of lat ral edges on said shelf structure and said second flanges substantially inwardly from a lateral edge of the top on said unit of metalfurniture,

(d) a pair of ground-engaging legs mounted on said inwardly extending stretch at the end of the shelf structure remote from said brackets, and

(e) a plate extending transversely of said shelf structure between said shelf structure and the bracket webs 'and connected to the top and one leg of said unit of metal furniture.

References Cited by the Examiner 2,973,232

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/68 Cole 108-69 2 992 055 9/16 Ohnstrand 312-194 5 3,002,797

5/26 Langdon 312-107 9/42 Chason 108-69 5/57 Champion 10864 1,031 7 1/58 Bullock 108-64 9/59 Bullock 312-411 10 1,107,623 6/60 Bullock 312-111 2/61 Knoll 312-194 3/61 Scherer 108-106 6/61 Bernath 312-195 7/61 Kass 312-195 10/61 Stark 312194 FOREIGN PATENTS 2/03 France.

(Addition to 324,501) 1/56 France.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

